India Pharma Outlook Team | Thursday, 21 August 2025
Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha conducted a review of the performance of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) and directed officials to initiate action under the PD Act against manufacturers of counterfeit medicines and banned medicines. Rajanarsimha said a manufacturer of drugs that continually does not comply with the drug safety protocols could be permanently shut down.
According to Government statistics, the DCA conducted 25,939 inspections over the 2024-25 calendar year and 4,142 institutions were punished for not complying with mandatory rendering of information. The DCA had conducted 16,481 inspections before July 2025 and taken action against 2,827 drug points.
In the 7-month span, 7,200 drugs were sent for testing, and 186 were labelled as sub-standard. The authorities filed roughly 700 cases related to the subject.
Expressing concern about the threats to public health associated with the sale of fake and other low-quality medicines, the Minister said that “medicines involve people’s lives and negligence is unacceptable.” He ordered action against pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and pharmaceutical retail outlets that were selling bogus drugs, misleading ads, and antibiotics without a prescription. He instructed officers to take action against companies disguising medicines as food to mislead consumers.
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To bolster oversight, Rajanarsimha ordered DCA to expedite the upgradation of drug testing laboratories and announced additional drug inspector positions to improve oversight. These moves, he said, were to bring faster enforcement and better quality control throughout the state.
“The government will take a strong position to ensure quality medicines and safe food for the people,” the Minister stated.
